House Democrat: It doesn’t make sense for Texas to give back stimulus funds

Rep. Jim Dunnam, a Waco Democrat who heads the state House committee keeping tabs on Texas’ stimulus funding took issue with those (mainly GOP Gov. Rick Perry) who have indicated it would be unwise for Texas to spend its whole share.

Dunnam acknowledged that it’s “one-time money” but said not using it would be like not sending his daughter to college for two years if that’s all he could afford (he credited a senator for the analogy).

“We keep hearing we don’t want to spend money because it may create an obligation two years from now,” said Dunnam, chairman of the Select Committee on Federal Economic Stabilization Funding. “Why would we not help the people we can help now for the next two years? … It just doesn’t make sense.”

Dunnam also suggested that lawmakers should put stimulus funding in the body of the appropriations bill and not have a separate section (called an “article”) for that federal money.

If there’s a separate stimulus article, Dunnam said, Perry could line-item veto various spending categories, “boom, boom, boom.” Putting the money within an agency’s overall appropriation would keep Perry from picking and choosing in this way, he said.

“Our taxpayers have paid their federal income tax, and this is our money,” Dunnam said. “If we don’t use it, it’s going to go to Mississippi. Giving it back serves no purpose that I can think of.”